Never Tear Us Apart
by frozenmorningdew
Summary: AU: Zendaya, a 17 year old high school student, spends most of her time at a theatre, which is her mothers place of work. There she meets the mysterious Val, a 28 year old dancer, who has recently started working as a choreographer there. She is vivacious and open, he is scarred and closed off. Will she be able to help him overcome his demons or will he keep running away?


Never Tear Us Apart

13 February 1999

10:25 NY

This was not how he saw his life panning out. How could everything change so drastically in only a matter of hours? Only yesterday he was happy, wasn't he? He'd had a nice, comfy job, a nice comfy home. Everything was going according to his plan. Except his personal life. For the past few months it had been a mess, but he had loved it. But today, today it was just a mess.

He sits in his assigned seat, waiting for take off. Drinking from miniature bottles of whiskey, just like he had been doing for the past hour. His mind was racing and he was thinking about everything and nothing. Thoughts of her were swimming around in his head. Thoughts of their time together. All of the things he had said, all of the promises he had made.

He didn't know when he had lost sights of himself. He tried to think about the beginning. How it had all started. _Passion._ That was it. He was a passionate man and the one thing he was the most passionate about was dancing. It didn't matter if it was on the dance floor, in the studio, competing or teaching. His passion always shone through. But today he felt like the flame had been suffocated. He was in this mess because of dancing. He had met _her _because of dancing. And now he had no intention of dancing again. His mind went back to the hours before. That morning when he had stood in his fathers' office and resigned from his position in the dance studio his parents had built from scratch. The family company that his parents had said would one day be his and his brothers. The look of disbelief and disappointment on their faces had only made Val even more determined in moving on with his life, in every way possible. He felt inferior and a failure.

_Angry. _That's how he felt. Angry with himself and angry about the situation. How could he have let this happen? How could he have been foolish enough to enter a relationship with her? Who was he kidding? There had never been a relationship. He had let himself become emotionally attached to a woman who should have been physically unavailable. And so he was running. There was no better word for this cowardice act. All it did was serve as a reminder for the man he thought he was; strong, protective, brave. He felt none of this now. He felt closed off. He was a deserter. In the early hours of the morning he had made a promise to himself. Never again would he let another person see into his depths. It would only end up in chaos and desperation. Not again.

He didn't know how long he'd be gone for, nor did he know if his destination would be his last, or only a pit stop on his road to forgetting. The only thing he knew was that his brother was the only person he wanted to see. He always knew what to do. They were as different as night and day, with his brother Maks being more carefree in the real world, though both were as intense and passionate when it came to the dance floor. Maks was older, wiser and a heartbreaker. He'd been through enough women to know how this worked.

Val had, of course, had relationships before. He had loved, laughed and lost. But not like this. He had never been so emotionally drained before. He had never backed out of anything in his whole life. But this was too big. Whatever road he would've taken, someone would have gotten hurt. At least now it would be him. A selfless act in the selfishness that had become his world.

So now he was on his way to Los Angeles. On his way from New York, his childhood home, where the ruins of his once seemingly good life stood in its ashes.

Truly, his life could not get any worse.

07:25 LA

She stirred as rays of sunshine streamed through her window. They had moved here three months ago but her parents still hadn't put up any sort of curtains. They were always too busy. And she knew they really were. They had moved to Los Angeles from Oakland because her mother had gotten the opportunity of a lifetime.

Her mother, who had been an associate professor at the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Oakland, had received an offer to become the Managing Director at the Geffen Playhouse in LA. An offer that they all knew would be accepted. But they had talked it through until they were blue in the face. Her mother, Claire, had been extremely worried about uprooting Zendaya during her senior year of high school. And she had also been worried about her husband and Zendaya's father, Kaz. "What if you can't find a job? Our whole family is in Oakland. Is it selfish of me to want to take this job and both of you away from everything you've ever known? Maybe I should just move alone and you can come in the summer?" It went on and on and on. But Zendaya and her father had been very adamant and didn't take any of Claire's bumbling non-logic.

So they had moved. Her mother was flourishing in her new job, her father was still unemployed but extremely determined in his job hunt, and she? Well, she was the same as always. An honor student with a love for dancing and singing. Her bubbly personality meant that she had no problem making friends but she was still careful in regards to which she trusted. She had been like that since she was a child. Never truly showing all of her cards, not even to the people she was closest to. She wanted to perform. She wanted to on that stage at the Geffen Playhouse but her shyness never went away. She had tried to overcome her fear by singing onstage and taking dance classes but it always ended in her having a panic attack. While living in Oakland, she had had private dance lessons but since moving to LA she had yet to find anyplace where she could take dance lessons in peace. Every place was crowded. Everything was crowded. So she had resigned to watching. She would go to the theatre and watch the dancers and the extras learning their moves. They all had such beautiful lines and footwork. It was a joy to watch. The head choreographer was a great dancer. Maks was his name. She would love to be one of those dancers one day, learning from a master choreographer but she knew that was never going to happen.

Today was a Saturday. She had absolutely nothing planned. Normally she would go with her mother to the theatre. Tonight was premiere night and Zendaya loved being around all of the chaos. The thrill of live theatre was like no other. She decided to give her friend Deja a call; she was one of the girls Zendaya had befriended when she had moved from Oakland. Deja was a girly girl. Very interested in fashion and people's looks. She wasn't vain, not a lot at least; she just wanted everyone to look their best. They decided, at Deja's vehement, to go shopping and to lunch. Zendaya then decided that she would go to the theatre later in the afternoon. She had made many friends there and she wanted to be there to support them.

Truly, her life could not get any better.


End file.
